1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to garments designed to provide privacy to a nursing mother while in public areas, such as restaurants and the like. The present invention is particularly directed towards a single-piece, arms free garment with viewing openings available to the nursing mother which do not expose the feeding child or the mother's breast to public view.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To ascertain the status of developing art in this field a study was made of past art patents found in the classes and subclasses 2/101, 104, 88, 174, and 49R. Patents found in the search which appeared most pertinent to our invention included the following U.S. Patents:
A patent issued to Schuster on Mar. 25, 1947, U.S. Pat. No. 2,417,888, shows a vest to be worn over a nursing mothers garments. Openings in the vest make the mother's breast available to the infant and protect the mother's clothing from slobbers and from ill smelling fluids which might be discharged during burping. This is primarily an external clothing protective garment and is not arranged to provide a covering for the child or privacy for the mother.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,154,789, issued Nov. 3, 1964, to E. Lewis, Jr., a disposable examination garment is shown. This garment is worn as an undergarment and has individual flaps which can be raised to expose the female breast, primarily for a medical type examination. Although the Lewis covering has openable sections, it would be totally useless as a privacy covering for a feeding infant.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,144,593, issued to Timmons on Mar. 20, 1979, shows complete garments useful for feeding an infant by a fully clothed mother. Also shown is a night garment. The front of the clothing is opened and a partial covering is provided for the mother's breast which is not actually sufficient as a covering for a feeding child. These are rather complicated garments and do not provide the privacy for both the mother and the feeding child in public places which our simple cape covering does provide.
Hughes was granted U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,699 on July 16, 1985, for a two-piece garment having a breast covering section similar to an Empire waist retained by an elastic band in a gathered seam and an openable shoulder strap supported section which can be used as a covering for the mother's breast with the infant exposed. Our cape shields both the mother's breast and the feeding infant.
The Frechette patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,068, issued July 22, 1986, is a sleeved nursing garment with the sides of the frontal section openable for feeding.
Other patents seen which show types of nursing garments with breast coverings include U.S. Pat. No. 3,611,439, dated Oct. 12, 1971, allowed Meyers; U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,068, granted to Echols on Jan. 28, 1986; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,227, dated Apr. 28, 1977, issued to Abramson. These patents show draping and vest like garments which are not simple and easy to use in public places and are worn like clothing rather than being cape-like covering for both mother and child which is what our design does provide.